Roman custom. This important decision encouraged a spirit of true
religious unity. The bishops, monks, and priests who gathered at
Whitby represented Saxon tribes which were often bitterly hostile to
each other (S37), but their action on the Easter question united them
in a certain way. It made them feel that they had a common interest,
that they were members of the same Church, and that, in that Church,
they were laboring for the same object. The fact that they bowed to
one supreme spiritual authority had a political significance. It
suggested that the time might be coming when all the conflicting
tribes or petty kingdoms in Britain would acknowledge the authority of
one King, and form one English nation.

49. Egbert becomes King of Wessex, and Overlord of the Whole Country,
829.

Somewhat more than a hundred and sixty years later a great step was
taken toward the accomplishment of the political union of the
different sections of Britain. By the death of the King of Wessex
(S37), Egbert, a descendant of Cerdic, the first chief and King of
that country, succeeded to the crown. He had spent some time in
France at the court of Charlemagne and had seen that great ruler make
himself master of most of western Europe. Egbert was not content to
remain simply King of Wessex. He resolved to make himself master of
the whole country. He began a series of wars by which he, at length,
compelled all the other Saxon Kings to acknowledge him as their
Overlord. That title marks the beginning, in 829, of a new period in
the history of the island.

50. How Britain got the Name of England.

In making himself supreme ruler over the entire English population of
Britain, Egbert laid the foundations of what was finally to become the
"Kingdom of England." Several causes contributed to this change of
name. We can trace the process step by step. First, the people of
Kent and the great council held at Whitby (SS42, 48) laid the
cornerstone of the National Church; next, the people of Wessex
furnished the National Overlord (S49); finally, the preponderance of
the people called Angles (S37) furnished the National Name of
Angle-Land or England.

It is a fact worthy of notice, in this connection, that from Egbert as
a royal source every subsequent English sovereign (except the four
Danish Kings, Harold II, and William the Conqueror) has directly or
indirectly descended down to the present time. (See Table of Royal
Descent in the